Jay-Z, Lamar, hip-hop rule Grammy nods
Rock and country continued to be pushed to margins
The reaction from some major media outlets to the Grammy nominations announced Tuesday was that the stodgy old Recording Academy had awakened to the dominance of hip-hop and R&B.
On Tuesday, Jay-Z collected eight nods, Kendrick Lamar seven and producer (and former Chicagoan) No I.D. got five. Last year, it was Drake, Kanye West and Rihanna with eight nominations apiece, and Chance the Rapper with seven. For the 2016 awards, Lamar received a staggering 11 nominations, the Weeknd seven and Drake five.
The only hip-hop artists to win album of the year in the Grammys’ 59 previous years were OutKast (in 2004) and Lauryn Hill (1999), a small representation in a 40-year span that has produced culture-shifting artists such as Lamar, West and others. The last artist with links to R&B to win album of the year was Whitney Houston, in 1994.
Nor has a hip-hop track ever won song or record of the year. That could change this year, with both categories heavily represented by rap and R&B nominees, including Childish Gambino, Jay-Z and Lamar for record of the year, and JayZ and Logic for song of the year.
Meanwhile, rock continued to be pushed to the margins, shut out of the four major categories: record, song and album of the year, and best new artist. Country artists also didn’t make the final cut for the top awards.
Major pop artists snubbed in the big categories were singer-songwriter Ed Sheeran, Lady Gaga and Taylor Swift, whose album “Reputation” was released too late for Grammy consideration, but whose single “Look What You Made Me Do” was eligible.
The nominees in the top categories:
Record of the Year (awarded to the performance and production): Childish Gambino, “Redbone”; Luis Fonsi and Daddy Yankee f. Justin Bieber, “Despacito”; Jay-Z “Story of O.J.”; Kendrick Lamar, “Humble”; and Bruno Mars, “24k Magic.”
Song of the Year (awarded to the songwriter): Luis Fonsi, “Despacito”; JayZ, “4:44”; Julia Michaels, “Issues”; Logic featuring Alessia Cara, “1-800-2738255”; and Bruno Mars, “That’s What I Like.”
Best New Artist: Alessia Cara, Khalid, Lil Uzi Vert, Julia Michaels, and SZA.
Album of the Year: Childish Gambino, “Awaken My Love!”; Jay-Z, “4:44”; Kendrick Lamar, “DAMN.”; Lorde, “Melodrama”; and Bruno Mars, “24K Magic.”
To be eligible in any of the 84 categories at the 60th annual Grammys, a recording had to be released between Oct. 1, 2016 and Sept. 30, 2017.